Technology eases integration of RFID sensors in distributed environment

Continuing a roll-out of networking “appliances,” Blue Vector Systems (Palo Alto, CA) has introduced a desktop-sized scanner designed to read RFID tags and communicate information to other network nodes, or to enterprise IT systems. The scanner supports both HF and UHF signals, and can interface with warehouse management systems, authentication systems (for pedigree requirements) and other track-and-trace applications. Typical applications would be at QA stations on a packaging line or in a warehouse, or in processing returns.

Interfacing software
There are many other scanners and readers on the market, says John Beans, VP of marketing, but the differentiator for Blue Vector products (which include a conveyor tunnel introduced last fall) is the design of the interfacing software. “As opposed to a monolithic system that requires lots of customized device drivers or interfaces, we use a technology called ‘aspect oriented programming’ to allow devices to link to a network nearly effortlessly,” he says. This removes a lot of the rationale for RFID middleware that is designed to filter sensor signals and compile the data in formats necessary for higher-level IT systems.

For example, says Beans, a common problem with RFID implementations is to unite RFID data with barcode systems. With the Blue Vector scanners, the device is simply linked to the network and “turned on;” it identifies itself to the network, and can find and link to the barcode station (which, of course, needs to be hooked to the network as well). The devices also have the capability of filtering multiple reads to provide only the signals that the higher-level IT system needs. “You don’t want to record a sensor checking the contents of a pallet 5,000 times a minute and sending that data out,” he says. “You want to note when a package comes in, what it is, and where it has gone.”

Physically, the Blue Vector implementation consists of a “network manager” and “edge manager” applicances, and their software, called the configuration management system (CMS). The CMS creates the relationships between they physicl-layer hardware and back-end or upper-level enterprise systems. Blue Vector has designed what it calls “business logic extensions” (Blox) that provide prepackaged applets to run various sensors or devices.
Blue Vector technology has been deployed at RFID projects at McKesson (San Francisco) and Rite-Aid (Chicago), says Beans. Another advantage of the technology is that it can be installed in a few weeks, rather than a months-long implementation process.